07/03/2025

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Greenlanders shrug off Trump takeover rant NUUK: Greenlanders on Wednesday shrugged off US President Donald Trump’s vow to take over the Arctic island, seeing it merely as an opportunity to advance their own independence bid. In his first major policy speech on Tuesday since returning to power, Trump underlined his expansionist vision, reiterating the importance of the United States taking over the strategically located and mineral-rich island and taking back the Panama Canal. Since returning to the Oval Office in January, he has put the topic back on the agenda and said he would not rule out military force to get it. Political scientist Maria Ackren said: “There is no panic. Here in Greenland, people are very calm and you take one day at a time.” “He is more threatening for the whole world, actually, for the kind of world order that we have,” she said, adding that there “will probably be hard negotiations coming up with Trump”. Greenlandic Prime Minister Mute Egede said: “We do not want to be Americans, or Danes either. We are Greenlanders. The Americans and their leader must understand that. “We are not for sale and cannot just be taken. Our future is decided by us in Greenland.” In Denmark, of which Greenland has been a part since 1721, authorities said it is up to the people of Greenland to determine their future. According to a poll in January, around 85% of Greenlanders said they did not want to leave Denmark to join the United States while only 6% were in favour. – AFP INDIA CONDEMNS UK SECURITY LAPSE NEW DELHI: India yesterday condemned a security breach during its foreign minister’s visit to London when a protester broke through a police cordon, stood in front of the minister’s car and tore the Indian flag before being taken away. Its Foreign Ministry said it expects Britain to live up to “diplomatic obligations” and called the group of protesters a “small group of separatists and extremists”. Videos posted on social media showed a handful of protesters waving flags of a separatist movement and shouting slogans outside think tank Chatham House in London on Wednesday where Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar was speaking. A member from the group broke away from the police cordon as Jaishankar was leaving the venue and was taken away by police officers within seconds. – Reuters ERRATIC CYCLONE CREEPS TOWARDS BRISBANE GOLD COAST: An erratic tropical cyclone lingered off Australia’s eastern coast yesterday, bringing drenching rains and record-breaking waves to a heavily populated region rarely hit by typhoons. Tropical Cyclone Alfred was 250km east of Brisbane city yesterday, but government forecasts warned its slow and erratic crawl towards the mainland was growing difficult to predict. Some four million people were in the firing line along a 400km stretch of coastline expected to see the worst of the storm. “We’re seeing gales developing on the coastal fringe,” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sarah Scully told AFP.

Korean jets accidentally drop bombs on homes, 15 hurt

BR I E F S

o Residents have protested against potential hazard of military drills for years

POCHEON: Fifteen people were injured in South Korea yesterday after bombs dropped by fighter jets landed in a civilian district, damaging houses and a church during military exercises in Pocheon, the Air Force and the fire agency said. The fire agency said in a statement that 15 people were wounded, including two who were seriously hurt. Pocheon is about 40km northeast of Seoul, near the heavily militarised border with North Korea. South Korea’s Air Force said eight 225kg Mk82 bombs from two

universities, leaving behind them a wake of millions of dollars in damages.” The United States sanctioned Yin in January for alleged involvement in a hack of the Treasury Department last year. According to US media outlets, then-Treasury secretary Janet Yellen and other senior Treasury officials were among those targeted. The State Department announced a reward of US$2 million each for information leading to the arrest of Yin and Zhou, who are believed to be in China. Several countries, notably the United States, have voiced alarm at what they say is hacking activity targeting their governments, militaries and businesses. Beijing rejects the allegations, and has previously said it opposes and cracks down on cyberattacks. – AFP protested about the disturbance and potential danger from nearby training grounds for years. Photographs from the scene showed a house hollowed out by the impact, shattered windows and a church building strewn with debris. Security camera footage aired on TV also caught the moments before and up to the incident, with a pickup truck driving on a tree-lined street before the area is consumed by a large explosion. “The unthinkable has happened,” said Pocheon city mayor Baeck Young-hyeun, who urged the government and military to come up with measures to prevent any further civilian damage. The Defence Ministry said earlier that South Korea and US forces were holding their first joint live-fire exercises in Pocheon, linked to annual military drill. The Freedom Shield joint drills, which will run from Sunday to March 20, aim to strengthen the readiness of the alliance for threats such as North Korea, the Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said before the accident. This year’s drills will reflect “lessons learned from recent armed conflicts” and North Korea’s growing partnership with Russia, it added. “Our planners look across the globe and identify the trends that are changing and we look at how we can incorporate that into our exercises,” Ryan Donald, a spokesperson for the United States Forces Korea, told a media briefing yesterday. About 70 combined field training sessions are scheduled for this year’s exercise, said Lee Sung jun, a spokesperson for Seoul’s JCS. – Reuters

sensitivity of the matter. The official said that the two jets then dropped four bombs each, with all of them detonating. Authorities would suspend live fire exercises until there was clear understanding of what went wrong, but the incident would not affect major South Korean and US military exercises due to begin on Monday, the official said. Residents in the area have

KF-16 jets fell outside the shooting range during joint live-fire exercises. “We are sorry for the damage caused by the abnormal drop accident, and we wish the injured a speedy recovery,” the Air Force said in a statement. The accident was due to a pilot entering incorrect coordinates, said a military official who declined to be identified because of the

A forensic officer walks near damaged buildings in Pocheon yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Chinese hackers indicted for Treasury breach WASHINGTON: Twelve Chinese nationals, including two Public Security Ministry officers, have been indicted for a series of hacking attacks, including a 2024 breach of the US Treasury, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. used sophisticated hacking techniques to target religious organisations, journalists, and government agencies, all to gather sensitive information for the use of the PRC,” acting US attorney Matthew Podolsky said in a statement.

that sent missionaries to China, an organisation focused on promoting human rights and religious freedom in China, a Hong Kong newspaper and the foreign ministries of Taiwan, India, South Korea and Indonesia. A separate indictment was also unsealed in Washington against Yin Kecheng and Zhou Shuai, alleged members of hacker group “APT 27”, also known as “Silk Typhoon”. “Yin, Zhou and their co-conspirators exploited vulnerabilities in victim networks, conducted reconnaissance once inside those networks, and installed malware, such as PlugX malware, that provided persistent access,” the Justice Department said. “Between them, Yin and Zhou sought to profit from the hacking of US-based technology companies, think tanks, law firms, defence contractors, local governments, health care systems, and

Other alleged victims include US-based Chinese dissidents, the foreign ministries of several Asian countries, religious organisations and additional US federal and state government agencies, the department said. Eight employees of a Chinese company called Anxun Information Technology Co Ltd, also known as i-Soon, and two Public Security Ministry officers were indicted in New York for involvement in the alleged hacking of email accounts, cell phones, servers and websites between 2016 and 2023. “For years, these 10 defendants – two of whom we allege are officials –

The Justice Department said the private hackers were paid in some cases by the ministries of public security and state security to exploit specific victims. “In many other cases, the hackers targeted victims speculatively,” it said, identifying vulnerable computers and then selling hacked information to the government. All 20 defendants remain at large and the State Department offered a reward of up to US$10 million (RM44 million) for information leading to their arrest. The hacking targets allegedly included a religious organisation